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Davitt Bridge in Chicopee to open this summer -- 13 months earlier than expected

042513 davitt bridge new.jpg

04.25.2013 | CHICOPEE -- The deck of the William F. Davitt Bridge is down and the $8.7 million project to complete the bridge should be finished in July, 13 months ahead of schedule.
(Photo by John Suchocki / The Republican)

CHICOPEE — Construction on the Davitt Bridge should be finished by the end of July – 13 months earlier than expected.

The contractor, Northern Construction Service, LLC, of Weymouth, has informed state officials that the work on the bridge is nearly completed and it should be ready to open in three months.

State Rep. Joseph F. Wager, D-Chicopee, and Sen. James T. Welch, D-West Springfield, announced that the bridge is expected to open to traffic no later than July 27.

The bridge closed last May, was demolished and rebuilt in a state project costing about $8.7 million. It was not supposed to re-open until August 2014.

“I’ve been getting a lot of questions about it. People see the progress being made and everyone wants to know when it will open,” Wagner said, explaining why he and Welch decided to announce the completion date.

The bridge closing was especially a concern to business owners because it is a main route to downtown Chicopee. The businesses all contributed to a fund for a marketing campaign – "It's Easy to Enter Chicopee Center" – showing people alternative routes to reach the downtown.

“That is good news. It doesn’t usually happen this way,” said Gail Sherman, president of the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce, commenting on the early completion.

The marketing campaign seemed to work because most business owners said their businesses were not harmed. A few reported a decrease in foot traffic, but several others increased sales over the last year.

“I’m going to call a meeting to talk about what we can do now. We still have money in the fund and what we did with ‘It’s Easy to Enter Chicopee’ seemed to work,” Sherman said.

Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said the reopening of the bridge is a critical step toward the ongoing effort to revitalize the downtown.

The city has also improved roads, sidewalks and lighting and demolished several blighted buildings over the past two years.

“A coordinated team effort to replace a potentially dangerous failing bridge structure has led to this great result. The state accepting our 60-hour work week proposal, a relatively soft winter and a contractor with incentive to move the project along all contributed to cutting completion time almost in half,” Bissonnette said.

Wagner said the combination of the extended hours, which did increase the cost by $500,000, and the fact that the bridge was completely closed helped speed up the work. The contractor also did not run into unforeseen problems that happened in the reconstruction of the Deady Bridge, which took about four years.

“In this case the bridge was closed completely, weather conditions have been good and the utility did not delay contractors,” Wagner said.

While Wagner said he understands any bridge closing is inconvenient, he called the reconstruction a nearly textbook project that limited the impact it had on the city.